A project undergoes delivery management reviews (at different levels) in its life cycle. The breadth, level and frequency of reviews can depend on the project's financial performance. For example, a project with solid performance and above-expectation return may have few reviews in its life cycle, but a project with consistent negative gross profit may experience continuous scrutiny from various management levels.
A challenge in delivery management is allocating the management effort to various projects and ensuring that the proper delivery management balance is maintained across a portfolio. In many scenarios, by way of example, typically no more than 20% of the projects in a portfolio can undergo delivery management review in a quarter. Therefore, proper selection of projects to review in a quarter is important.
One aspect is selecting projects to undergo delivery review is a project's financial outlook. Accordingly, the ability to predict the financial status of projects in a portfolio can significantly facilitate the process of effort allocation in delivery management. For example, knowing the estimated net (or inception-to-date) gross profit for each project in a portfolio in the next three months (that is, next quarter) can possibly guide a delivery management effort allocation problem.